Commonly pickup trucks and other trucks of various dimensions and configurations are used to transport equipment and people. While these vehicles are designed to transport equipment it is often difficult to load and unload equipment onto and from these vehicles. In particular, it is very difficult to load vehicles such as motorcycles, all terrain vehicles, mowers, jet skis and the like into the bed of common pickup trucks.
Heretofore, various vehicles were loaded into pickup trucks by lifting, which often requires more than one person and requires unnecessary use of energy and risk of injury. Additionally, it has been common in the past to use wood planks to form a ramp from the ground to the back of the truck. Obviously, the use of wood planks carries the risk of the plank(s) slipping or breaking under the load, thus increasing the probability of injury and damage to the equipment. The prior art also includes various foldable, and extendable ramp assemblies which are connectable to the tailgate of a truck. Some of these prior art devices require that the ramp be connected to the truck for loading and unloading then stored elsewhere when not in use. The prior art does not disclose a ramp assembly including an alarm to notify an operator of the vehicle that the ramp is in the extended position. It is not uncommon for an operator to unload or load a truck and leave the ramp in an extended position and then driving the vehicle. Moving the vehicle with the ramp in the extended position, especially when the vehicle is loaded, may result in losing the load, damage to the vehicle and/or ramp and injury to a person.
It would be a benefit, therefor, to have a ramp which is connected to the rear of a truck and extendable therefrom for loading and unloading the truck. It would be a further benefit to have a ramp which may be retracted from the extended ramp position and moved to a closed position in which the ramp serves as a tailgate of a truck. It would still be a further benefit to have a tailgate and ramp system wherein if the vehicle is started with the ramp extended an alarm will sound and wherein when the ramp is in the tailgate position the alarm will be disengaged.